


On the Run

by pkmya



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Friendship, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-03-03 02:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13331760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pkmya/pseuds/pkmya
Summary: Green is not confident, and he majorly overcompensates for that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I may re-write this first chapter depending on the feedback. That being said, any feedback relating to my depiction of anxiety would be great! I'm only writing from my personal experiences.

The first time Red remembered it happening was a few months before his tenth birthday. His mum had been on the phone to Professor Oak about something she had to pick up from him. Once she hung up, he asked her if he could go over too to hang out with Green and she had said no -- Green wasn't feeling well. He was disappointed but it wasn't the end of the world, everyone got sick occasionally.  
  
When Green's parents split up at eleven, he didn't leave his house for a week. Red wanted to go over even if they were stuck inside, but mum had said it wasn't a good idea. They never really spoke about it after that, he figured Green would talk about it if he wanted to and it's not like he could relate. He'd never even met his dad.  
  
Over the next two years, Green only fell sick a few times. But apparently he got sick really badly because he wouldn't even leave his room for days. He couldn't stop throwing up, he'd told him once over text and that made Red stay away. He didn't want to catch that, that was gross and being stuck inside was _boring_.

 

* * *

  
  
It had been two days since Red had heard anything from Green. Not that they kept in constant contact - in fact, it was far from that, but just that Green had disappeared completely off all social media apparently. That was the unusual part, Green was _always_ posting or "active" on messenger or sending out Pokesnap Chats, but for the past two days he'd been nowhere to be found. It wasn't as if he didn't have reception on his Pokegear either, the last photo he'd sent a snap of was him standing in front of a big sign that said _"Welcome to Celadon City!"_. And if he had been exploring the city, his Pokesnap Chat story as well as his Instagram feed would have been filled with photos of the touristy landmarks.  
  
He had sent a message back in response to the photo in front of the sign saying _"going 2 b in Celadon in a couple of days, want 2 battle?"_ and Green has said yeah, totally, but that was the last he'd heard. He'd even sent a message a few hours ago telling him he was about to arrive in the city and that they should meet up, but the message had gone unopened - also unusual as Green was _always_ checking his phone - and had left Red wondering what was happening.  
  
So he was worried. He didn't think something bad had happened, Green was probably safe, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. This was the first time this had happened since they left Pallet and it had set off alarm bells in his head. Thinking what he could do, he quickly sent a message asking _"r u ok?"_ and watched to see if there was a response.  
  
There was none.  
  
It suddenly brought back memories of their childhood and how Green would get so sick he'd be stuck in his room. Maybe that had happened again and he didn't even have anyone to look after him! That wasn't fair. But this time he'd actually have the nerve to go visit him, regardless of if he was contagious or not.  
  
He went over ideas in his head of where Green could be, obviously he was in Celadon still otherwise he would have posted about it. He wouldn't be at the gym either, especially if he was sick, so maybe he was at the Pokemon Centre? He could always go ask?  
  
Deciding that was his course of action, he started sprinting through the city, ignoring the confused looks he was getting from passerbys. After roughly five minutes of running, it occurred to him that he had no idea where the Pokemon Centre actually was in Celadon and that he'd probably been running around in circles. Coming to a halt, he stopped the first person he noticed and asked them where it was and was answered with very vague directions that it was in the direction he had come from. Cool.  
  
After what felt like _hours_ of running around, he finally managed to find the centre tucked in between two larger buildings. It was really small, no wonder he'd missed it. He would have expected a large centre in such a large city like Saffron and Celadon had, but nope, this one was much smaller. Maybe because the two big cities were next to each other they didn't think they needed another big one, or maybe because Celadon didn't have a huge battle culture, it was more focused on tourist type things like large shopping malls and the casino. Either way, he was here now.  
  
He stopped running but still strode inside so he'd look less crazy and walked straight up to the information desk. The Joy behind the counter looked bored and it took her a moment to notice that someone had walked up to her.  
  
"Can I help you?"  
  
"Yeah, has someone called Green Oak checked in here in the past few days?"  
  
She stared at him a moment but then sighed and turned to her computer screen to type something in. It's like having to work was an inconvenience, but Red didn't care - he was on a mission. Eventually, after typing each letter of his name very slowly, she looked back at him and said, "He checked into a room two days ago. Kid with brown hair, right? Haven't seen him leave yet."  
  
Yes! And no, that wasn't a good sign. "What room is he in, miss?"  
  
"I can't tell you that, it's our privacy policy."  
  
It couldn't be that easy. "Please? I'm his cousin and Professor Oak sent me to check on him since we were both in the same area." It was a lie but hey, he had to accomplish his mission somehow.  
  
"Oh Oak. Didn't realise he was the Professor's grandkid," Her flat expression didn't change. "We only have one floor of rooms and there aren't a big amount, you could probably find him by process of elimination."  
  
Well, that was as much permission as he was going to get. He ran up the stairs and started knocking on each door, asking if Green was there and having it slammed on his face each time. The sixth door didn't answer, but he could see a lamp was on in the room. He waited, tried again and when they didn't answer _again,_ he started talking.  
  
"Green, it's Red. Open up, please," There was still no answer and he was getting impatient, so he started rapping on the door. "I know you're in there, the nurse told me. Let me in." There was movement this time and Red could hear footsteps. After what felt like an eternity (but in reality was only a few seconds) the door opened and he was face to face with Green. The sinking feeling he'd had in his stomach for the past two days deepened by his appearance - he had dark circles underneath his eyes and his skin was pale, like he hadn't been outside in a while.  
  
"Hey did the nurse really tell you where I was? That seems like a breach of my privacy." His voice sounded the same though, which was a small relief.  
  
"Nah, she just said you'd checked in. Wouldn't tell me what room, I just said that so you'd open the door."  
  
He pressed his lips into a hard line. "You're here to battle right? I'm sorry, I don't really feel like it."  
  
"Hey, that's cool," He had forgotten all about that at this point, plus he wouldn't make him do that if he was sick. "I figured you were sick so I'd come visit."  
  
A sigh. "I'm not sick and I kind of want some spa--" His sentence was cut off by a loud grumble from his stomach, it made him blush and Red laugh.  
  
"Okay, if you're not sick then let's go get food! You sound starving, have you eaten anything recently?" The look on his face told Red that no, he hadn't and while Red was trying to be happy, he still couldn't shake the feeling. Maybe he was sick and he just wouldn't admit it, that would be so like Green. Or maybe he was sick in another way? Though that didn't make sense, he was always so cocky and confident. It couldn't be right.  
  
"Alright," He stepped back into the dark room and rummaged around for a minute before pulling on a coat. But he stopped when he got to the door, hands gripping the doorframe so tightly that his knuckles were turning white - luckily Red couldn't see that. "Actually, I don't really want to go out."  
  
"Oh? But you're hungry and it would be cool to try that pizza place just across the street," He said it so earnestly that it made Green feel even worse about not being able to. Obviously something on his face gave it away and Red smiled softly. "Okay, I'll get takeaway and bring it back here."  
  
"Thanks." He smiled weakly back and watched as his friend retreated down the stairs. Once Red was gone, he clambored back onto his bed and pulled the sheets back over himself. Suddenly it was really warm though, and stuffy. How had he not noticed that before? Red must have. And dark. So he switched the lamp on and climbed back out to open the window.  
  
 _Red must have. Of course he would have._  
  
He'd been sitting in the dark with the window shut, Red would have thought he was so strange. And he was, he'd never been the favourite in the town. Everyone was on Red's side but he didn't hate him for that. He deserved it. He was great, he was smart. He was naturally talented at being a trainer. He was most things that Green wanted to be and now he thought he was a _weirdo. Everyone_ would find out. He tried to push the intrusive thoughts out his mind but they wouldn't go away. He'd never be as good as Red at being a trainer. He'd never be as good as his grandpa hoped. He'd have to train twice as hard if he even wanted to be on the right level.  
  
Everything was spinning around him and he had to rock himself back and forth on the bed to try and get some sense of control back into his body. But even that became uncontrollable soon enough and all he could do was ride it out. _This is not the first time this has happened, you'll be back to normal soon enough._  
  
Despite being completely absorbed in his thoughts, he heard a loud knock at the door and suddenly he was hyper alert of everything around him. He rubbed his face and pulled the covers back over the bed so Red wouldn't know that he'd been in bed in the middle of the day. Once satisfied that the room showed no trace of what had just happened, he jumped up and ran to the door.   
  
"Took you long enough." Green could only see the top of his head over the large stack of pizzas he was holding, and his hat jostled up and down as he laughed.  
  
"Yeah well," Green grinned back. "I was answering a text and I had to finish it, sorry. Anyway, what's the deal with all the pizzas? There's only two of us and you ordered," He motioned to the large stack. "Seven."  
  
"I know, it cost so much too!" He wailed, stepping through the doorway and putting them down on the small table in the corner. "But this place is apparently the best in Kanto and I don't know when I'll be back in Celadon, so I wanted to try all the toppings." He sat down cross-legged on the carpet and pulled open a box, then Green did the same. They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Red started recounting some story about his last gym fight. At one point he got so animated he accidentally threw his slice across the ground and Green made him go clean it up.  
  
He countered with his own victories against the gym leaders, exaggerating a _little_ and purposely leaving out the parts where he got so nervous he couldn't leave the pokemon centre for a few hours both beforehand and afterwards. Red didn't need to know that, that was something he dealt with by himself. It was fun though, and Red was right, the pizza was good.


	2. Chapter 2

They lay around for half an hour after finishing as much pizza as possible and Green was starting to feel normal. He'd been so wrapped up in everything that had happened since he'd arrived in Celadon, he hadn't realised how much he'd missed having company. You see, Green was a major chatterbox when he was in the mood for it, and having been by himself for the past few days, he had a lot of talking to catch up on. Luckily for him too, Red also loved to talk and was never not up for it.  
  
"Man, those pizzas were so good," It was Red that spoke up first. "And we have so many leftover too! I'm going to have food for days, it's going to be the best. Totally the best I've had in Kanto so far."  
  
"I don't know man, I had some pretty good pizza when I visited Alola.'  
  
"Excuse me," He shifted himself so he was sitting and facing Green, a frown on his face. "You went to Alola when you were four, how do you even remember that?"  
  
Damn, he was right. How did Red even remember that? He could hardly even remember it himself, all he could recall was that Alola was really warm and that they had weird customs that no where else did. Like no gyms? What was with that? Every other region had gym leaders! And he totally lied about the pizza too, he definitely remembered eating it, but he couldn't remember if it was good or not. What? That was like at least ten years ago now!  
  
"All I remember is that they put pineapple on their pizza and hey -- don't make that face at me. It actually tastes really good! You wouldn't think so, but trust me, it does."  
  
"Yeah, I think I'm good eating my regular Kanto pizza." Red laughed and fell on his back onto the carpet. He lay there for a minute, watching the ceiling while Green watched him. He hadn't changed the whole time Green had known him, which was actually his whole life now that he thought about it. He was still just as high energy and go-getting as ever, doing everything with as much enthusiasm as possible. He'd always been a bit hyperactive, but apparently he was a bit more focused now that he had pokemon battles to concentrate on. Not that he'd noticed, Gramps had just told him that when he'd called home recently.  
  
It was nice to have his friend around, the only concerning thing was that he seemed to be getting taller than Green. Green had always been the bigger one out of the two, but right now he was pretty sure Red was at least an inch taller. He better grow faster, he couldn't have Red beating him in that too now.  
  
Red sat back up, catching Green's gaze. His hair had grown a lot longer too, but that was no surprise - who had time for haircuts when they were out travelling? Their were much more important things to spend what little money battling brought in on, like food. He was pretty sure his was the same, it kept drooping down into his eyes at the moment and he'd briefly thought about buying hair ties.  
  
"Did you want to go for a walk outside? I know you said you didn't feel like going out before, but it's evening now and it was really nice out earlier." Green's stomach flipped when he suggested it, he hadn't been outside properly in days and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that right now.  
  
You see, ever since starting on his travels, each time he was preparing for a battle with a gym leader, Green had this sudden crippling inability to do just that. It had started out with Brock and he thought it was just nerves. Everything inside was going crazy as soon as he arrived in Pewter and as soon as he went to leave the Pokemon Centre to actually challenge him, he just...couldn't. He couldn't breathe and he went back inside and didn't leave his room for hours, making sure he was completely ready for it.  
  
It had happened throughout his childhood too, like when his parents split up. But he thought it was just how he coped with stress. He didn't think that the gym challenge - something him and Red had been talking about for years would trigger the same response. And it wasn't just a once off, it happened in Cerulean and Vermillion too. But it had gotten worse when he arrived in Celadon.  
  
It wasn't battling that stressed him out, because he didn't feel that way at all when he was fighting regular trainers or wild pokemon, it was just the gym leaders and he wasn't sure why. But after arriving in Celadon, he hadn't left his room in days. Every time he thought about going outside, it became one step closer to having to fight Erika and that sent him spiraling down into not being able to breathe, not being able to relax and sometimes even physically throwing up. He didn't know what it was and he didn't know what to do about it.  
  
But Red didn't want to go fight Erika right now, he just wanted to go for a walk. And if he wasn't alone, that would probably make things okay. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea?  
  
So, ignoring the voice in his head (which thankfully was really small and easy to drown out at the moment), Green nodded. "Yeah, I think that's okay."  
  
"Cool!" He jumped up from his spot, yanking Green up with him and pulling him over to the door. "I'm super excited to check out the city! I came straight here when I arrived so I haven't actually seen any of it yet."  
  
He laughed at his friend's excitedness. "Neither have I, but people say there's always something to do here."  
  
"Huh, but you've been here for two days already. You haven't explored at all?"  
  
Oh.  
  
Shit.  
  
He had to think fast, otherwise he might totally give away that he'd been stuck in his room for those two days like a little baby. He absolutely couldn't let Red know about that, he'd know there was something wrong with him and it would just be so embarrassing. "Ah, I've just been really busy training my pokemon that I didn't even think of looking around. Gotta stay in top form if I want to become the champ."  
  
"Right," They were walking down the stairs now. "So that's why you were too busy to check your phone?"  
  
Oh no, he was in deep. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I left it in my room a lot of the time because the battery has been dying super quickly recently."  
  
"Mine does the same thing! It's so annoying right!" Red seemed satisfied with that answer and Green mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully he didn't bring that up again. "We should take them to the big department store here, they have a telco section and could probably have a look to see if something is going wrong."  
  
"Maybe, I can't really afford the repair cost though and I guess it's not the biggest problem." He laughed and as he did, he realised that they were outside and that everything was okay. It was still warm and there were lots of people walking around and there was absolutely no reason to be worried right now.  
  
They wandered around the city for a little while, Red dragging him into random stores that were remarkably still open so late into the evening and stopping to take photos of their pokemon in front of Celadon landmarks. The city was nice, he was enjoying it way more than he had with Saffron. That place had just been all giant apartments and big skyscrapers, nothing particularly interesting. It was fun to be with someone else too and as much as he liked his own company, enough was enough sometimes.  
  
After traipsing around what felt like every part of the city, Red finally announced that he was tired and took a seat on a small grassed area. Green sat down too, glad to finally have a break.  
  
"Man, I'm glad to have finally caught up with you," He said and Green looked at him, confused as to what he meant. "I've missed hanging out with you, dude. And it's nice to have some company while exploring somewhere new, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I feel you," He nodded. "There's only so much time I can spend alone before I end up thinking _'Green, you're really annoying now, get out and speak to someone that isn't yourself'_ and then I have to go find someone random to speak to. Or you know, call home." He made a fake gagging noise with that suggestion and Red laughed.  
  
It was pretty dark now but the city was still bustling, it must have been a Friday night. Or maybe it was Saturday? When you didn't have deadlines or a schedule to stick to, it was easy to lose track of what day in the week it was. Perhaps he was way off though and it was mid-week, Celadon could always be busy for all he knew. He was from a small town with a population of something like five, after all.  
  
He was finding it so interesting , discovering how everywhere that wasn't a country town functioned. There were just so many people in Celadon and so many restaurants and stores. It was probably past eight and everything was still open and people were still shopping! It was bizarre and unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He was glad to be here and the vibes were great but Green didn't think he could ever live somewhere like this, there was just too much hustle and bustle. Maybe a smaller city like Viridian or Cerulean, but even then maybe not.  
  
Fuchsia City was his next stop and he was looking forward to that one, it was seaside and would be the first one he had visited since leaving home. He wondered if the ocean there would be as pretty as it was back in Pallet. His hometown pride told him probably not. He had mixed feelings about the Safari Zone though, it was cool because of the rare pokemon but it also sounded really touristy and he wasn't about that life. Also the zoo! Pokemon were meant to be free, not kept in cages!  
  
"Did you want to go back to the room?" Red's words brought him out of his little daydream and he had to collect his thoughts again.  
  
"Oh, uh yeah sure, I am pretty tired now." They hopped up and started to trek back towards the Pokemon Centre, which unfortunately was on the other side of the city. Thanks Red. But Pikachu and Eevee were glad for the exercise, so it wasn't the end of the world.  
  
"Hey, your room has a bunk bed right? Is it okay if I take it? I'll split the cost for the night with you."  
  
"Yeah, of course man." There was no hesitation, all concerns about personal space and trying to hide his issues were long forgotten. In fact, for the time being, his _actual_ issues were forgotten with the distraction of having company. For now, everything was calm again.  
  



End file.
